Deforestation started really long time ago to be specific, when man discovered fire. At
first caveman’s used it logically just to build their fires to make animals go away, cook
food and to avoid being cold in the nights.

What else did caveman’s used wood for?
They used it for a lot of things but mainly it was to make fire but other examples of what
they used wood chopped down were fore weapons and musical instruments.

But when did it start
to be a problem?
It wasn’t a thread to the world
until 1760 to sometime between
1820 and 1840 when the Industrial
Revolution started where
machines replaced people.
There deforestation became a
bigger problem.
Deforestation became one of the
biggest world issues
especially because the
demand of wood
products became to
increase.

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How has deforestation grown throughout years?
Deforestation nowadays is
starting to become a major
issue and one of the most
affected places is the
Amazonian Forest were millions
of trees are cut off. But many
may ask why does it keep
growing? The reason some
people are against stopping
deforestation is because if
people stop deforestation
poverty increases and with the
overpopulation in the world poor countries are the ones that suffer the most.
Deforestation keeps growing and increasing all around the world.

Deforestation statistics are data tables that show how many trees had been cut
down in a year, to its show how many trees had been cut in a country or in a village. This is
the statistics that were in a year, square miles of mature forest that originally covered the
planet in 1947 the hectares lost were 5.9 million per year and square miles of mature
forest that have been cut down in 1047 is 3 million. Here are the top 10 endangered
forests, Indo Burma in Asia-Pacific, the remaining habit is a 5 % of the forest, New
Caledonia in AsiaPacific
the
remaining habitat
of the forest is a
5%, Sundaland in
Asia-Pacific a 7%,
Philippines in AsiaPacific is a 7%
more of habitat,
Atlantic Forest in
South America a
8% of the forest if
left, Mountains of
Southwest China in Asia-Pacific a 8% of habitat left, California Floristic Province in North
America a 10% of the forest left, Coastal Forests of Eastern Africa in Africa 10%,
Madagascar and Indian Ocean Islands in Africa a 10% of the forest left and in Eastern
Afromontane in Africa 115 of the forest left.

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The statistics of 2000-2005, the countries with the highest Deforestation of natural
forests are: Brazil minus 3,466,000 hectares
lost per year, Indonesia minus 1,447,800
hectares lost per year, Russian Federation
minus 532,200 hectares lost per year, Mexico
minus 395,000 hectares lost per year, Peru
minus 224,600 hectares lost per year, United
States of America minus 215,200 hectares lost
per year, in Bolivia minus 135,200 hectares lost
per year, Sudan minus 117,807 hectares lost
per year and Nigeria minus 82,000 hectares
lost per year. The countries with the most
forest cover are: Russian Federation hectares of forest 808,790,000, Brazil hectares of
forest 477,698,000, Canada has hectares of forest 310,134,000, United States of America
hectares of forest 303,089,000, China hectare of forest 197, 290,000, Australia has
hectares
of
forest
163,678,000, Democratic
Republic of the Congo
hectares
of
forest
133,610,000,
Indonesia
hectares
of
forest
88,495,000, Peru hectares
of forest 68,742,000, India
hectares of forest has
67,701,000, Sudan has
hectares of forest of
67,546,000,
Mexico
hectares of forest 64,
238,000, Colombia hectares
of
forest
60,728,000,
Angola hectares of forest
has 59,104,000, Bolivia
hectares of forest 58,7
40,000,
Venezuela
(
Bolivarian Republic) hectares of forest 47,713,000, Zambia hectares of forest 42,452,000,
United Republic of Tanzania has 35,257,000 hectares of forest, Argentina has 33,021,000
and for last in the top 20 countries with most of forest cover is Myanmar with 32,222,000
hectares of forest.

Ecuador’s government decided to explode the Yasuni’s blocks (31, 43). This has
made a huge impact on society since a lot of people have made protests to save the
Yasuni. On the proposition Rafael Correa made it said that supposedly there aren’t any
tribes that are not in contact with society. This made the people from Ecuador and all
around the world speak since we are in lack of untouched jungles/forests. The people who
agree to explode it and the people who don’t agree are right, there is no wrong opinion.
The ones who agree to explode it think of the economics of the country. The
president said that this will help the country grow an 8% annually. This exploitation would
help the country to have better education, highways, and help the very poor. Rafael
Correa said that he would eradicate extreme poorness till 2017. It is true; this will give the
country a lot of money and could help the poor in a lot of ways. With this exploitation
Ecuador would make 18.000 million dollars. "We cannot be so irresponsible to leave more

9

than 18,000 million (dollars) below ground, in a country that still has 24 percent of child
malnutrition” said Ecuador’s president.
People immediately started to make protests and to complain for many reasons. In
Yasuni there are many tribes that are in no contact with society, so we don’t know if by
exploding the jungle they are destroying people’s homes. Second, in one hectare of the
Yasuni there are more species than in all North America, so species would be extinct. By
the cut down of trees not only humans lose their
houses, but animals too. Humans can find another
place to live, I agree, but some animals won’t
survive and die too. There are a lot of campaigns
going around the world to save forests and jungles
and they decide to explode Yasuni here for money.
Correa is not paying attention to any of the
protests the community is making and is still
choosing to explode the Yasuni.

The Yasuni is one of earths with
more biodiversity. The government has
been working on this for about 6 years
now, but only recently they made it a
fact. If deforestation keeps happening
at this range there is a study that in 50
years we could have no green land. To
take out the petroleum they are
planning on taking they will not only
destroy that part of the rain forest, but
to actually get to that point, they need highways. A lot of equipment has to pass through
the whole rain forest. According to experts, they say that the exploitation will affect the
ITT (Ishpingo, Tambococha and Tiputini). The block 31, the one they are exploiting, is in
the heart of the Yasuni, where there is the most biodiversity. A lot of rivers around that
zone will get infected.
"Informe Sobre Explotación Petrolera En El Yasuni No Incluye 'zona Intangible'" El
Universo. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Oct. 2013.
"Explotación En El Bloque 31 Del Yasuní Sí Afectará Al ITT." Amazoniactual. N.p.,
n.d. Web. 25 Oct. 2013.

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11

12

Editorial
JOSÉ ANDRÉS AVILÉS

Deforestation: The End of our Home or an Improvement in our Lives
Our planet is a green and blue planet with thousands of living things and amazing
views of the world’s best landscapes. Forests cover over 31% of the surface of the planet.
Different species of animals and plants live in this area where they are safe from any outer
threat. Natives in this areas call forests their home since their ancestors have lived there for
centuries, living with what the land provides for shelter and food. As other civilizations
have improved in technology and construction, the population has increased and the need
for more sources to live has caused a lot of damage in nature. A new threat to nature and
the survival of the humanity has appeared during these years. Deforestation, the destruction
of nature by cutting down trees. Forests from the entire world have been cut down to
provide a heat source, medicines, and a shelter or protection against nature for humans but
have left a space for humans to harm animals and plants and has made a lot of changes in
climate, air and heat in our world. No place in the world where forests are found is safe
form deforestation. People have created big organizations that try to take care of nature and
explain the community why they should take care of the world and taught them how to
protect nature. Organizations from different parts of the world have united to search for
solutions to the possible extinction of all the life in planet Earth. Organizations like WWF
and Greenpeace are trying to protect forests and their wildlife but, the need of many
overcomes the idea of the survival of the planet.
Forests, home of many species and humans are been reduced due to the constant and
newly needs of mankind. When humans cut down trees, burn forests down and damage
nature, the world slowly travels to its end. Forests have been cut down and destroyed
because of agriculture, illegal logging affects nature when new constructions or vehicles are
created or are near them. Nature gets contaminated, polluted and all the fresh air forests
provide to the world banishes and the carbon dioxide contaminates the entire planet. With
the destruction of forests comes the loss of the world’s biodiversity in animals and plants
species that will be endangered of extinction since hunters and poachers will search for
them and new predators looking for food will also hunt them down. Tropical rainforests are
also threatened by deforestation. These forests are the home of almost all the world´s
biodiversity in plants and animals. An example of this is the Amazon that has been reduced
in size because of ranching and cutting trees down. Remote areas of the world with forests
have banished due to the search of oil, gold or any resource that our modern world needs
every day, destroying nature no matter what lives there or what consequences can come
from the devastation of our planet.

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Based on these facts and evidence that support that deforestation around the world is
destroying the environment and the future of mankind, I think that deforestation must be
stopped before it gets worst. Deforestation contaminates the planet, threatens species of
animals and plants that depend of forests for food, shelter and a place where to live
protected from any harm from humans or other species. Stopping this problem might seem
easy but the truth is, that it requires a lot of works since there are opinions in favor and
against deforestation. What we as humans, organisms living I this planet who must take of
it, should think in this present days is that our world might not last any longer if it continues
been contaminated and destroyed by deforestation and other changes made by us to
improve our lives and try to live longer. Will there be any future for mankind if our planet
is destroyed because of our needs, not considering how we have affected the Earth?

Image created by WWF (World Wildlife Federation)
Information provided by: World Wildlife Federation.
For more information enter to WorldWildlife.org to learn about any other topic of interest.
"Deforestation." WorldWildlife.org. World Wildlife Fund, n.d. Web. 07 Oct. 2013.

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15

Killing the Amazon:
Peru
ALEJANDRA PINTO

Deforestation is clearing forests all around the world in a big scale, the
consequence of this is the damage in land. Forest still represents 30 percent of
worlds land area, but large amounts of land are lost every year. In some years
worlds rainforest could disappear completely based on the current rate of
deforestation. Trees are cut down for human necessities like paper, building
homes, cities, farms, etc. farmers are the ones that use wood the most, farmers
use wood to create more space for their crops to grow. Farmers also use wood to
provide their families with food, they use the process of cutting down and then
burning trees called “slash and burn”.

Peru’s rainforest which
represents 20 percent of the
amazon is now facing a lot of
problems
related
to
deforestation. One of them is the
trafficking of endangered species
of wood. Although people try to
stop this problem by creating
campaigns
wood
keeps
disappearing. "Deforestation has
been advancing through the
Brazilian Amazon, although the
Brazilians have made some
significant reductions in their deforestation rate," said Cabarle in an interview with
CFR.org. recently a new highway has been inaugurated in Peru but to build it
workers had to cut down many trees. This generates a possibility for people to
build houses near the highway and to build them they also have to cut down trees.
Deforestation is also one of the many causes of climate change. When we
burn wood lots of pollutants are released to the earth’s atmosphere which is very
important for us. The atmosphere is the coat that protects us from getting too much
sun or UV rays that are dangerous for our skin. The UV rays can cause cancer to
our skin. Today, a very big amount of people is dying because of cancer, the
treatments are very strong. Getting those treatments can cause your hair to fall and
very little times you can get cancer free.

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If we are able to reduce
emissions, in which deforestation is a
piece, we would reduce the amount of
pollutants released to the atmosphere.
Organizations also plan on educating
developing
countries
to
stop
deforestation
from
magnify.
Rich
countries could start the change by
reducing emissions since they have
enough resources to develop a good
plan.
Another
way
to
reduce
deforestation is reducing greenhouse
emissions, which will affect Peruâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s forest
in a good way. This will also reduce the amount of trees cutted on the forest ,
therefore many other countries will be interested to this and deforestation will
reduce all around the world creating a new, good, impact on the environment and
changing the future for other generations.

17

18

Technology: Helping
less Trees to fall,
But to Fall Faster
BY: NICOLĂ S GUZMĂ N
Technology is advancing in every aspect
of science and in every work. This means that
technology has also advanced in deforestation.
New technology helps regulate illegal logging, but
also helps for faster and more efficient tree
cutting.

On our world, trees are very important to
our life. When cutting trees, they provide very
necessary materials. These materials are used to
make daily life objects as paper, fuel and money.
Cutting trees also helps to clear out space for
agriculture, cattle or for population growth.
On the other side, trees also produce
oxygen from carbon dioxide, which right now, is
needed to lower the level of greenhouse gases
emitted to the atmosphere. Additionally, these
plants help control the weather and the water
cycle. By cutting trees, it has an economical
advantage, as well as an environmental loss.

LOGGIN SPIDER PROTOTYPE

Technology in
Deforestation
Technology is advancing against forests.
Every day, people want to do things more
efficient, and in deforestation is not the exception.
There are better machines being created
to cut down trees easier. Machines bring down
trees faster and in more space. This tree weapons
destroy forests massively. There are also
machines that help the entire logging process
(tree cutting, skidding and making trees logs)
more efficient to do.

LARGE SAW FOR TREE CUTTING

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With
these
technologies,
the
deforestation industry becomes bigger and more
powerful which can help to the destruction of
more forests and jungles.
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Technology against
Deforestation
Technology has also advanced in the trees
side. There are technological devices for controlling
deforestation and illegal logging.
The Global Forest Watch 2.0 is an initiative
that helps control illegal logging. Designed by
Google, this satellital monitoring technology helps
groups know when an illegal deforestation group
may cut down trees and to prevent it.
Global Forest Watch 2.0
There are more technological improvements that
help governments and communities to control,
guard and preserve their forests